Custom Copper Covers

Kudos to Troy for knocking out three custom copper covers for the icehouse vents plus a copper sleeve for the boiler exhaust. Bravo!

In the photo above Pam is holding one of the new copper covers (on the left) next to one of the old copper covers (on the right). This is a design we created about a decade and a half ago for the house, and, in an effort to maintain consistency with the icehouse, we templated the new vent covers off the originals. But, time has patinated the old copper covers leaving us with a dilemma.

Accelerate the aging process or allow them to age naturally?

I definitely want to accelerate the weathering/oxidation process. I’ve used several different products in recent years to patina copper, and the first consideration is how to approximate the hue of the old copper covers. Ranging from verdigris to brown/bronze, the key is to favor the latter. Although the copper will eventually pick up some green and gray tones, we’ll opt for a patinator in the brown/bronze range so that it looks more like the earlier example we templates.

We’ll need to buff the new copper covers with fine steel wool and then clean them up with acetone before applying the darkening solution with a sprayer (rather than a brush, resulting in a more consistent, natural finish) slowly allowing the metal to change into a less salmon colored, less shiny patina. We’ll likely need to repeat the patina solution repeatedly until the copper covers darken sufficiently.